Freedom Of Prayer In New York Public Schools

Religion is one of the most controversial issues in society today. The concern of allowing prayer in schools is an on-going debate and has resulted in numerous lawsuits. Religious school clubs, after school activities, curriculums, and moments of silence during school are just a few of the court cases that judges have administered. People in favor of prayer in schools believe that their children can only learn certain values through religious practice. On the other hand, an individual against religious practice in schools views this issue as an infringement on his or her children’s rights as Americans.

Since the founding of America, there has been concern with the church manipulating government. The separation of Church and State was to make sure the church did not become more powerful than government. In spite of wanting a separation of church and state, The United States of America became one nation under God. The earliest test of the separation of church and state with respect to education is McCollum versus Board of Education. This was a landmark case the United States Supreme Court in 1948 ended the power of a state to use its tax-supported public school system in aid of religious instruction. “The court case which prohibited the state from sponsoring specific prayers in public schools was Engel v. Vitale, decided in 1962 by an 8-1 vote.” (Cline p) It is unconstitutional to compose a school prayer and make students repeat it daily. Although these cases protect our religious freedoms, there is some fear that expelling God from public school has adverse effects. God can still be present; teachers can lead by example and teach behaviors and ethics that

What is the age that a person should be able to claim rights under the first amendment? The first thing would come to most people's mind is eighteen. However, upon examination, someone could easily justify that a sixteen year old who is in his or her second year of college would have the ability to form an opinion and should be allowed to express it. What makes this student different from another student who, at sixteen, drops out of school and gets a job, or a student who decides to wear a shirt that says "PRO-CHOICE" on it? While these students differ in many aspects such as education level, their opinion can equally be silenced under the first amendment. One of the most blatant abuses of the first amendment right to free speech is

School prayer is a very controversial issue in today’s society. The issue of school prayer is about whether the public school systems should let the students pray, at the start of the school day, as a class. The issue of school prayer began in the late sixteenth century when people in England did not approve of the way one religion was forced upon them, so the Puritans, known as the Pilgrims decided to come to the colonies. Even in the colonies the Pilgrims had problems with religion they had to sometimes resort to highly creative strategies in order to pray. When people were caught having a secret service they would have to face the consequences that the law enforced, whether it was going

The First Amendments is a blessing that the United States is fortunate enough to have. First and foremost, First Amendment protects the right to freedom of religion and expression, without any government interference ("First Amendment" n.p.). The freedom of expression includes the right to free speech, press, assembly, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances ("First Amendment" n.p.). Redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through courts or other governmental action ("First Amendment" n.p.). People are allowed to practice their own religions and do not have to conform to one religion, all because of the First Amendment. People's rights are protected with no government interference.

The parents argued this was a violation of the part of the Constitution that stated the, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". Page 370 U. S. 423/http://oyez.org/cases/1960-1969 The decision in the case was six votes to one ruling in favor of the parents and taking the prayer out of public school ceremonies. Even though the prayer was nondenominational and was voluntary. It still did not save it from being unconstitutional. The court ruled by providing the prayer, New York officially approved religion. This was the first of many cases that has taken religious

The first amendment gives us personal rights. We have the right to speech, expression, and religion. Because of this, American citizens can believe in whatever religion they want. But are all those religions treated equally? If we can believe in whatever religion we want, why do we say “one nation, under God”, in the pledge of allegiance? Does that mean the government is biased, and keeps religion a factor in settings like court? What about in schools? In the first amendment, we have the freedom of speech and religion. However in schools, students lose the freedom of speech, but not religion, even though they are in the same amendment. What about in modern society? Are all religions seen equally through the eyes of everyday people, or have stereotypes changed the first amendment?

The 1st amendment of the United States Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” When the Framers of the Constitution wrote the 1st amendment there intention was exactly was to prevent the government from interfering with States’ rights. More specifically, the Framers intent was to allow citizens to speak freely without violating the law or public policy. However, the Framers did not intend the 1st amendment to be a gateway for citizens to say whatever they want, individuals can still be censored. We can find

The 1st amendment came from the people of America and they wanted the people to have freedom, but not too much that the Country will be in ruins“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." so they set boundaries so they people won’t kill the nation. People were killing people because people were not doing the ways of the what some people wanted the other people wanted to do so they killed them and got away.Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.-John Milton But after the amendments were made fewer people killing and violently assembling because of the 1st amendment.The 1st amendment is important because it lets people Peacefully

Growing up in public schools, I remember my 2 grade teacher Ms. Rosa will always tell us “Siempre tiene una voz, nunca se dejan que alguien le digan que aser, es nuestro derecho como gente que viven en los Estados Unidos. ” I can safely say that the I learn of the first amendment, through my early school path,I always said what I felt and never feared of being silenced. When I heard about the Tucson Unified school district situation, I felt that it was a straight fuck you to our rights. When a state decides to take action against our own history and tells us what we can or can’t learn is a violation of our first right. The first Amendment should be shown at its maximum in public schools, since limiting what type of books to read is creating a iron wall in our public schools. When I say Iron wall, it reminds me on how the state is trying to create a concentration camp with our education, limiting the things we can learn. Additionally, I feel that teachers should have the right to speak out on what really happen to our ancestors

In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment applied to public schools and that administrators had to provide constitutionally valid reasons for any specific regulation of speech in the classroom. However, in the 1986 case Bethel v. Fraser, it was ruled that educators were not violating students’ First Amendment right by censoring the content of their speech or writing. So are we, as students, protected by the First Amendment or not? Should we be able to write about a controversial topic as freely as any adult?

The Court decided that having the prayer in public school was unconstitutional and conflicted with the Establishment Clause. The prayer violated the Establishment Clause because the prayer was established by government officials. Based on the idea of the separation of the church and state that was greatly pursued by the founding fathers, the court continued with the ban not because they were anti religious but because it violated the First Amendment.

There have been many attempts to amend the United States Constitution to allow open prayer back into public schools and all other entities where prayer is not allowed. In 1962 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of school-sponsored prayer being unconstitutional, as in the case of Engel v. Vitale. This case involved state officials of the Broad of Education in the Union Free School District in New York who composed a prayer which was given to the principal and was to be read in each of the classrooms in the presence of the teacher at the beginning of the school day. It reads “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country”. This was to be a part of the “Statement on Moral and Spiritual Training in the Schools”. The statement was

In First Amendment “Congress should make no law regarding the foundation of religion, or disallowing the free practice or shorten the flexibility of discourse, or of press or request of legislature for change of objection, right of individuals to aggregate”.

Religious freedom is one of the many freedoms our great nation has worked so hard to protect. During the early 1700’s many different states  made laws only allowing  people of certain religions or certain beliefs  able to hold a state office causing much contention and oppression. Thomas Jefferson tried to draft a bill that guaranteed all  citizens of any religion or no religion, legal equality in the state but his attempts failed. He stated “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket or breaks my leg."(Levinson, 2012, para.24). James Madison, while Thomas Jefferson was one of  his good friends (Mansfield,1995), commenced the First Amendment to the constitution because he did not want congress authorizing a “National” religion that would cause conflict with the many different religious denominations (Evans, 1995). The First Amendment of the constitution was supposed to clarify this issue, by the separation of church and state. School prayer is a very controversial topic because it has to do with the government dealing with one 's religious beliefs and tolerance. On the other hand though, what happens when a Senior at graduation gets up and says a prayer or implies something about his/her belief in God? Where does her Freedom of Speech come in?  Everyone is suppose to